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Chapter 338: The Next Twenty Years

The ability to imagine things that do not actually exist is what differentiates intelligent life from non-intelligent life. Non-intelligent beings cannot comprehend abstract concepts like a company, because a company itself is merely an "imagined reality". raN0&BE​S

A company's existence is simply because everyone believes it exists; it is merely a product of collective imagination.

Yet now, an excessively powerful imagination has become Bai Mo's greatest impediment to perceiving the real world.

The Golden Apple had begun to take effect moments ago, and in those brief seconds, as his mind exploded with activity, thousands upon thousands of thoughts surged forth.

Regarding the battle unfolding before him, there were scenes of him effortlessly slaying the Red World Acolyte, others where he barely managed a counter-kill after a bitter struggle, and even visions of him succumbing to his opponent and dying on the spot...

Countless plausible yet illusory futures flooded Bai Mo's mind, interfering with his judgment. No matter how many of his own fantasies he dismissed through common sense and deduction, in the very next instant, even more surged forth.

Imagination, an ability almost innate to humanity, possessed by all regardless of wealth or status, had, after being magnified countless times, become a cage trapping him. Bai Mo had used his own power to construct a loop that imprisoned himself.

The more he thought, the more confused he became; and the more confused he was about this world, the more intensely his thoughts raged.

"Spinning a cocoon to trap oneself." The Red World Acolyte gazed at its bewildered opponent, whose eyes were vacant, a look of unsurprised expectation on its face.

But that being said, it did not halt its offensive. For in any case, the Golden Apple had served its purpose, greatly boosting Bai Mo's information processing capabilities. Thus, even with only instinctive defenses remaining, his information-level defense was no weaker than when he had been conscious.

As its power relentlessly recovered, the red light incrementally encroached upon the white, and the scales of battle tilted further toward the Red World Acolyte. The external Red Radiance was already on the verge of pressing onto Bai Mo's physical form.

However, the Red World Acolyte consistently insisted on employing only information-level attacks, unwilling to resort to physical force against the enemy before it.

This stemmed from the fact that, before its severe injuries had completely healed, for it, in the form of a pure information lifeform, interfering with the material world was a considerably strenuous and unrewarding endeavor.

Furthermore, in a pure contest of control abilities, it actually held no advantage whatsoever.

Though countless products of imagination manifested, it didn't mean Bai Mo was incapable of perceiving the true state of the world. After finally pushing aside all extraneous thoughts, for one fleeting moment, only the real world remained. In that instant, he gathered sufficient intelligence and ultimately made his decision.

"Since truth and falsehood are indistinguishable," he mused, "then I have no need to trouble myself with discerning every single thing. I might as well just keep moving forward." Following his plan, he immediately began his attempt at Elementization.

"A primal spirit in a wave-particle superposition state is the core primer for Elementization."

Bai Mo struggled to empty his mind, trying to think of nothing, simply following his instincts to complete his body's Elementization, thereby minimizing the interference from imagination to the greatest extent. As for the Red World Acolyte's external attacks, he decided to exchange space for time; the opponent wouldn't be able to breach his information barrier anytime soon.

Gradually, his body began to flicker erratically like a candle in the wind, resembling a television screen with poor signal, seemingly capable of disappearing at any moment.

Along with the process of Elementization, he actively allowed a massive amount of computational power to be instinctively redirected, transforming into a part of his subconscious. This new subconscious faculty was specifically responsible for controlling his body's wave-particle duality conversion, a method through which he could, to a certain extent, alleviate the problem of his overly powerful imagination.

The effect of the Golden Apple was somewhat beyond his expectations, and he could only resort to this wasteful method to save himself.

"Going down the path of Elementization?" Seeing Bai Mo's body increasingly transforming into a matter wave, it roughly deduced the direction its opponent had chosen.

Prior to this, any intelligence related to his chosen path had been deeply guarded by Bai Mo in the furthest reaches of his memory, serving as a trump card for a potential comeback. Not even the Red World Acolyte's relentless assault had managed to extract a single word.

"Then I'll give you a hand," it said, "and help you merge with the elements of the entire universe."

After discerning Bai Mo's intended direction for breakthrough, it quickly found the optimal counter-strategy and proceeded to link almost all of its computational resources with his.

Bai Mo, who had originally managed to partially resolve his imagination problem, discovered, after receiving the gratuitous sharing from the Red World Acolyte, that his body seemed to be expanding infinitely with the increasing influx of thought and computational power.

After Elementization, the scope of his control grew ever wider, extending from the entire experimental field to the nearby Tianqing City, then to the more distant Tianzhong City, Tiandu City... Everything was subtly trembling. Yet, simultaneously, his self-awareness continuously weakened as his range of control expanded.

"An earthquake?!"

"What is going on?!"

At this moment, within Tianqing City, now strewn with ruins and rubble, the rioters, no longer under the Red World Acolyte's influence, were jolted awake from their frenzy by the sudden earthquake.

"Ah!!! What have I done!" someone shrieked hysterically, staring at the blood-stained fruit knife in their hand. In their daily lives, they might not have even known how to butcher a chicken, yet in the recent frenzy, they had swung knives at their own compatriots.

The streets were filled with people unable to accept reality, aimlessly wandering about. Coupled with the slight earthquake, the scene was akin to the end of the world, overrun by zombies.

The Red World Acolyte's grand recovery plan was nearing its conclusion. The remaining value of those rioters had been almost entirely extracted, leaving only one task: to make this human, who knew too much about it, disappear.

To ensure Bai Mo lost his sense of self during Elementization, the Red World Acolyte recalled all its dispersed power, focusing intently on eliminating the individual before it.

"The next time will provisionally be in twenty years." With victory firmly in its grasp, it began talking to itself once more.

Through this Red Radiance plan, which had claimed countless lives, it had already recovered nearly a quarter of its power. Compared to Gaia, who intended to hide within DNA and would take who knows how many centuries to recover, this speed was incomparably faster.

After having shorn the wool once, the Red World Acolyte decided to grant its severely wounded "little lambs" a twenty-year recovery period. Twenty years was ample time for everything to recover.

Once various contradictions sharpened once more, new revolutionary declarations would emerge as the times demanded, just like the cyclical peasant uprisings of ancient dynasties.

"There won't be another twenty years!" Just as it was contemplating how to lay out its pieces and devise its next phase of plans, a hand, composed entirely of white light, extended from within the dense encirclement of red. With overwhelming, heaven-obscuring might, it counter-enveloped all the red light.